Black Comedy

Your kid’s worst nightmare. Or maybe you yourself still get goosebumps when thinking of it : the creepy clown.A charming and funny entertainer, but what happens after dark?

A couple of years ago I stumbled across a very nice song on a stock website. The song conjured up an uncanny image of a creepy clown in my mind. I knew I had to make an animation using this track.

I pitched the idea of the ‘Creepy Clown’ to my bosses and when approved I started making the animation as an internal project at animation studio in60seconds in Amsterdam.

Where normally music is composed during or after the production, I did it the other way around. I listened to the song very carefully and made up every shot and movement based on the various instruments and rhythm. The result is a story that neatly fits the music.

As to visual style - during the project I made a drastic change: from 3D surroundings, bright colors and a fatty clown it developed into a more ‘cartoon modern’ kind of style. I initially choose to work with 3D as I wanted to learn more about it, yet quirky/pointy 2D shapes ended up suiting the mysterious story way better.

Together with talented animators Amanda Nedermeijer and Almar Sloot we finished the animation in a pressure cooker. This was a nice experience, because we had to communicate well how to balance out the movements while animating. Each of us chose their own characters to animate, so their personalities would really come to life. They did. So be prepared!